Thankfully the rain had cleared by the time we got up the next morning so we struck out for Robe in good spirits. The drive up to Robe would be the last part of the Great Ocean Road we would be travelling on as the highway switches inland between Robe and Adelaide. Our plan was to reach Robe in time to watch the rugby between England and Australia. We'd found out too late about the rugby and couldn't move our flights to see the match live in Sydney, so we were going to have to content ourselves with the TV and some beers.

After another scenic drive we arrived in Robe in good time to find somewhere to stay and get a bite to eat before the match started. Having found a cheap motel we walked back into town for some food and to try and find somewhere to watch the match. Having scouted around for a while it seemed like our best bet for food and the rugby was the Caledonian Inn, a pub which would not have been out of place in any small Scottish or English village. As most traditional inns do nowadays, they also had a giant TV screen to watch sport on and after some discussions with the barman it seemed likely that we would be able to watch the match. I should explain at this point that contrary to what I (and I imagine most people) would expect, Aussies are not that keen on rugby union. If you are in South or West Australia the main sport is Aussie rules football (the AFL) and in New South Wales and Queensland it is rugby league (the NRL). Rugby union is therefore the third main sport trailing after the other two. Consequently, when we arrived at the Inn they were showing AFL highlights and we would only be able to watch the rugby if there wasn't an AFL match on that evening.

Before that though we had a lovely dinner of rabbit stew (me) and lamb shanks (Fiona) to soak up the alcohol which we would inevitably be consuming during the course of the evening. As game time approached we struck up a conversation with the table next to us, in particularly a guy called Mikey who turned out to be the only other person in the bar interested in watching the rugby. He was pleased to have someone else to talk to about the rugby and so we soon joined Mikey, his partner Leigh and daughter Niamh together with their friends for the rest of the evening. The fact that England proceeded to get humped in the rugby added to the inevitable banter between ourselves and Mikey and by the end of the evening we'd had a great time drinking more beer than we should (damn those rounds!)and holding our own in the lively 'discussions' concerning the relative merits of both teams and our respective home countries.

Unsurprisingly, Fiona and I felt slightly rough the next morning but help was at hand in the shape of the Wild Mulberry Cafe. Having ordered breakfast despite the supreme stupidity of the people in front of us in the cafe's queue (several people I know would have lost their rag watching one group of about 9 people attempt to order breakfast using 3 different group members, 2 credit cards and some cash...) we sat down to a very tasty fry-up each with some pancakes to share (I am of the firm opinion that hangovers are to be fed as well as watered). Feeling slightly better, and certainly much fuller, than we did when we got up, we headed back out on the road for the last part of our drive to Adelaide.